Some assortment of You-can-still-count-on-us bromides backed by a straight-faced honor guard toting American flags and banners exhorting the gallant knights in blue to Protect and Serve.

After all, the decision by erstwhile new-comer Safety Manager Ron Perea to resign amid the outcry over his decision to go light on Sparks, Murr and Sellers rather invites such spectacle.

(And that’s fine if he wants to skip all that. I have no reason to doubt that most Denver officers do anything other than serve us professionally and with distinction.)

But instead, Chief Gerry Whitman is blaming the media, defense attorneys, and – if I’m reading this correctly this dark a.m. – even suggesting that the independent process established for review of problem officer discipline is misguided.

Over the weekend, Whitman called former Denver Councilwoman Cathy Reynolds, chairwoman of the (Citizen Oversight) board, to tell her he was disappointed she was commenting without giving the Police Department a chance to present its findings. The seven members of the board are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council.

“I told her that it’s damaging to make those statements without reviewing the entire case,” Whitman said. “You have to have all the facts before you make a decision.”

(To be fair to Whitman, he’s been on vacation until recently. And he has told reporters that Denver Police officers are “under control,” despite what you might hear on talk radio programs.)

You’ve by now seen the video. People across the nation have seen it, as it went viral over the weekend.

(Which means, to put it mildly: The case is subjecting Denver’s police to national ridicule.)

Your Spotted This Morning correspondent talked with Perea about his decision to slap the wrists of the officers involved, instead of the dismissals Denver’s Independent Monitor, Richard Rosenthal, suggested.

Perea said the video evidence is only part of the case file.

So true.

What other evidence did Perea consider?

As you can see in our editorial today – titled “Wrong call in police beating” – the barely-in-office safety manager says that, while interviewing the officers, he got a good look at their “body language.”

OK. But what about the video tape? It shows Officer Devin Sparks throw a man who is simply talking on a cell phone face-first onto the pavement and then repeatedly beating the man – even though the poor guy is curled into a ball and drifting into unconsciousness.

(Perea also said that if the suspect, Michael DeHerrera – a skinny musician – had done as Sparks instructed and put his hands behind his back, the beating would have stopped. I found it impossible not to note that, if I were in such a situation, I’d keep my hands over my head until the blows stopped, in order to protect myself. (That’s, you know, like a human instinct, hardwired into the brainpan in such a way as to make it impossible to do otherwise.) Yes, Perea said, but Sparks wasn’t hitting DeHerrea in the head – only in the legs.)

The Republicans must be scared silly by John Hickenlooper, a successful entrepreneur who (apparently) doesn’t use hair color, keeps his cool in interviews and somehow has managed to appear refreshingly apolitical.

Because the GOP’s opening “Hickenritter” volley is demonstrably wrong.

(In fact, when I first saw Colorado GOP chairman Dick Wadhams coining the nickname, I felt sorry for him. Because I like Wadhams, I decided to ignore the remark and hoped it would go away. But he’s decided to be a kid with a noisemaker on this one.)

There are significant and opportunely relevant differences between Gov. Ritter and Denver’s popular mayor. And the campaign narrative those differences create spells big trouble for Scott McInnis.

Because when it comes to talking about experience in job creation – the signature issue in this race – it is McInnis that looks like Ritter.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.